VMware Inc. today rolled out a broad set of enhancements to its Workspace One endpoint management suite that improve security for organizations with dispersed workforces and give information technology administrators greater visibility and troubleshooting power over far-flung devices.

At the center of the new offerings is Workspace One Intelligence, a new cloud-based service that combines aggregation and correlation of users, apps, networks and endpoint data with automated troubleshooting and anomaly detection. VMware is also launching a framework called the Workspace One Trust Network that combines data and analytics from its management platform complementary products from a network of security partners.

The company said its own research has shown that only about a quarter of employees say they get the applications they need from their own IT organizations. One key reason is that the security infrastructure many organizations use is unsuited to giving people choice when outside the four walls of the company.

“Building better perimeter protection doesn’t work when half your employees are external,” said Shawn Bass, chief technology officer of end-user computing at VMware. “The challenge is how to apply security principles that are independent of whether person is on or off the network, using a [virtual private network] or on the open internet.”

Bridge over troubled silos

VMware says its approach bridges the silos that often build up around point products for tasks like endpoint security, threat intelligence, access management and infrastructure security. Workspace One Intelligence aggregates, and correlates information about users, applications, networks and endpoints and applies a decision engine that recommends access privileges and authentication tactics. It also provides administrators with information about such factors as application adoption and user behavior patterns that can be used to streamline workflows. And it identifies anomalies, such as poor performance or unauthorized applications.

IT administrators can use the intelligence engine to create rules to automate and optimize common tasks, such as patching endpoints and setting conditional access controls at the group or individual level. Rules can automate fixes and patches across an entire workforce and integrate with workflow management systems from vendor such as ServiceNow Inc. and Slack Technologies Inc.

“It could be as simple as identifying degrading batteries before they become a problem or finding the latest status of a Windows security patch,” Bass said. “We take data from a lot of devices and leverage it with other ecosystem provides,” through application programming interfaces and agents on devices monitored exclusively by VMware. Initial partners include Carbon Black Inc., Cylance Inc., Lookout Inc., McAfee Inc. and Netskope Inc., with more to be added.

“We’re trying to create a scenario where our partners’ capabilities and ours provide better value than if done on a stand-alone basis,” Bass said. For example, if software from an anti-malware partner discovers a virus on an endpoint device, “they can use an API call to inform us, and we can create a set of remediations to apply automatically.”

Better Microsoft integration

Also being introduced today is Workspace One AirLift, an endpoint management platform for Windows 10 devices that’s integrated with Microsoft Corp.’s System Center Configuration Manager. AirLift addresses all stages of the Windows 10 PC lifecycle, from installation to retirement. Coexistence with SCCM enables customers to migrate PC lifecycle management tasks such as installation, connecting to the network, patching, software distribution and remote user support from the cloud and without replacing their existing SCCM server.

Other enhancements and new features being introduced today include improved support for Apple Computer Inc.’s macOS, additional Microsoft Office 365-specific security features and better integration between the VMware Boxer secure email application and an assortment of popular back-end business productivity and development applications, including Salesforce.com Inc. customer relationship management, GitHub Inc.’s version-control platform, Atlassian Corp. PLC’s Jira and SAP SE’s Concur.

Workspace ONE Intelligence is available now and included in Workspace ONE Enterprise. Pricing wasn’t disclosed.

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